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“I didn’t mean to say it,” he growls, reaching up and touching my chin.
His fingers sizzle against my skin as he guides my gaze to his, his expression intense as he stares firmly into me. His eyes blaze with meaning, meaning I hope I’m not projecting and imagining.
I pray for it to be true, for this impossibility between us to be real.
“But that doesn’t mean I don’t feel it,” he snarls.
I let out a whimper, my breath shivering. “I’m…”
“My woman,” he says firmly. “The second I saw you—fuck, Ruby. I need to do this.”
He leans forward and crashes his lips against mine.
I gasp through the tight press of our mouths, too stunned to kiss him back for a moment.
But then my womb screams at me from deep inside, urging me to kiss him back, to sink into the heat of our closeness. I open my mouth and follow his lead as we kiss, my hands rising as though on autopilot, stroking up his muscled arms and gripping onto his bulbous shoulders.
I let out stifled moans as our tongues meet, clashing together, as reverberations move through my body telling me this is right.
“Fuck,” he growls, breaking off the kiss but keeping his face close, so I can feel his breath purring over my cheeks. “You feel so perfect.”
He slides his hands around my hips, over my back, and then down to my ass. He pulls me closer to him so I can feel his solid need against my belly, the thick outline of his manhood pressing forcefully against me.
“Oh, God,” I whimper. “I don’t understand.”
He smirks. “I want you, Ruby. I need you. The second I saw you through the peephole – fuck, the second I heard your voice over the intercom – I knew I had to have you. But I don’t just want to fuck you, even though, goddamn, your body—”
An alarm blares through the apartment, ear-splittingly loud.
I reach up and cover my ears.
“What the hell is that?” I yell.
Rider steps back, his face suddenly grim, his eyes narrowed like a predator about to go on a hunt. “It’s the fire alarm. Wait here. I’ll see what’s going on.”
He strides from the room, leaving me breathless with all that just passed between us, his taste lingering on my lips and his words simmering in my heart.
Chapter Eight
Rider
I jog down the hallway toward the intercom, my whole body alight with what just passed between me and Ruby. I didn’t plan on blurting that out over the phone to her uncle, but the thought of him trying to take her from me set off my possessive instincts like nothing else ever could.
I press down on the intercom button, ignoring the blaring siren that cuts through the apartment, silently cursing the bastard who decided it needed to be louder than a jet engine.
“Gary?” I call. “You there?”
There’s some shuffling on the other side, and then his voice rises. “A bit manic down here. What’s up?”
“Is this a drill?”
“No, the fucking basement’s on fire. No idea how it started. You need to get down here, Rider.”
No idea how it started…
I have a fucking idea.
It was Aaron and his goons trying to lure me out.
“Don’t worry,” I snarl. “I was about to leave for a short trip anyway. I’ll be gone a few days.”
“Okay, but hurry up. It’s spreading fast. If it hits the electronics, the elevator might be fucked.”
“Okay.”
I jog back through the apartment, finding Ruby standing in the hallway with a question in her eyes.
I have to remind myself of the urgency of the situation as I take in the sight of her, with her cheeks blossoming red and her lips looking swollen from our kiss. Her eyes are wide and inquisitive, driving my mind to feral thoughts of how she’s going to look when I claim her fertile young body. When I pump my hips and spill everything I have to give inside of her.
“What’s happening?”
“We’re leaving,” I growl. “Somebody’s trying to draw us out.”
“So we’re leaving?” she murmurs, furrowing her eyebrows. “Isn’t that what they want?”
“Yeah, I’d say so.” I nod. “But the basement’s on fire, not the roof, and I’ve got a favor I need to call in any way.”
She strides over to me, bringing her scent with her, potent and tempting, the scent of my perfect woman.
“You’re not making any sense? The roof?”
“Just grab your bag and wait near the door. I need to pack some shit. In exactly two minutes, we’re out that door and gone.”
I jog past her toward my bedroom, slamming the door open with my shoulder and running across the room. I pull open my bedside drawer and take out the brown envelope that means more to me than anything in this apartment, and then I turn and sprint back down the hallway.
Ruby’s at the door, shoving her laptop into her bag. “I can take this, right?”
